How To Customize a Scout Plugin
May 08, 2008 by Charles
Posted in HowTo | no comments 
Since Scout Plugins are open source, it’s easy to modify them to fit your needs.
Here’s a quick way to create a custom version of a Scout plugin.
1. Grab the current plugin and options
The code:
curl http://plugins.scoutapp.com/mongrel_cluster_monitor/trunk/mongrel_cluster_monitor.rb \
> mongrel_cluster_monitor.rb
The options:
curl http://plugins.scoutapp.com/mongrel_cluster_monitor/trunk/mongrel_cluster_monitor.yml \
> mongrel_cluster_monitor.yml
2. Edit the plugin code and test
scout -p /path/to/customized/mongrel_cluster_monitor.rb \
-o '{"mongrel_cluster_configuration_dir"=>"/etc/mongrel_cluster"}' \
-v -l debug
That says, use the -p option (or --plugin) and the -o (or --option) to
test locally, passing these options, be verbose (--verbose) and
set the log level to debug (--log-level debug).
Note that you could also add your own “option” there, as the path to one of the configuration files…. however you want to do it.
3. Host the Plugin
Then, all you have to do is make that plugin and its options file (of the same name) URL accessible (put it in your rails public dir, perhaps, or on another server) for the scout server to be able to grab it when you install. When you install, choose, Manual—and type in the URL to your new customized version (http://highgroove.com/new_customized_single_mongrel.rb for example).
